New York Mets' Lucas Duda, second from left, is congratulated by Daniel Murphy, left, after hitting a three-run home run as Los Angeles Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis, center, stands near along with starting pitcher Kevin Correia, right, and home plate umpire Dale Scott during the third inning of a baseball game, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

New York Mets starting pitcher Bartolo Colon throws to the plate during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

No video clips from the third inning of the Dodgers’ 11-3 loss to the New York Mets on Sunday will be saved for future highlight reels. The Mets’ five-run outburst eliminated any chance of the Dodgers separating themselves from the San Francisco Giants in the standings for a day, or of Kevin Correia having a truly happy birthday.

Those things could be forgiven for a day and forgotten in a moment.

But since Correia is only replacing an injured Hyun-Jin Ryu, and since Hanley Ramirez spent the last 15 days on the disabled list, the inning was a larger reminder of what the Dodgers were missing.

Correia (2-1) had won his first two starts since being obtained from the Minnesota Twins for a player to be named later or cash. The veteran right-hander knew his time in the starting rotation was limited, and he’ll probably return to the bullpen once Ryu is activated from the 15-day disabled list. That could happen in the coming week.

“Who knows really,” Correia said. “I didn’t know if I was going to get one or two or three (starts). You never know. I know this could’ve been one of my last starts before I went back to the bullpen.”

In his third start as a Dodger, Correia couldn’t make the most of his limited opportunity. He was shelled for seven hits and seven runs in three innings Sunday before being removed with a 7-1 deficit. Three of the seven hits cleared the fence, including a tape-measure three-run homer by Lucas Duda in the Mets’ big third inning.

“I think they guessed right and I missed wrong,” Correia said.

On his 34th birthday, Correia saw his earned run average for the season rise to 5.09.

“This is going to bother me for a while,” he said, “just because of the situation I was in.”

Correia wasn’t entirely at fault. Two of the runs were unearned.

For that, it was hard not to blame Ramirez, even though he wasn’t officially charged with any errors. The Mets hit four balls to the shortstop in the fateful third inning.

One was a medium-high pop-up that Ramirez barely moved to catch. The second was a line drive by Daniel Murphy over his head.

The third was a hard ground ball by David Wright that a more nimble shortstop might have fielded. Ramirez dove to his right and the ball deflected off his glove, giving Wright a base hit.

Advertisement

The fourth was a routine ground ball with two outs by Juan Lagares. Ramirez’s throw to first base was low, and Gonzalez couldn’t make the catch as the ball skipped past him. Correia’s next pitch, to Ruben Tejada, cleared the fence for a two-run home run.

At the plate, Ramirez went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts.

“I thought he looked a little rusty at the plate for the most part,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.

“Maybe,” Ramirez said. “Let’s see.”

With Ramirez back in the lineup, the Dodgers were missing their two best defensive shortstops. Miguel Rojas was on the bench (though he later entered the game in left field). Erisbel Arruebarrena was on his way to Single-A Rancho Cucamonga, having been demoted to make room for Ramirez on the active roster.

The Dodgers collected nine hits off Bartolo Colon (12-10) and two relievers. They went 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position and left six runners on base.

In the sixth inning, the Dodgers fell victim to their second triple play this season. With Yasiel Puig on second base and Adrian Gonzalez on first, Matt Kemp grounded into a routine 5-4-3 double play.

Puig unwisely rounded third base and was thrown out at home plate by a few steps.

“It’s just a little disappointing because he had another one of these in a similar type game,” Mattingly said. “He ended up having that crazy slide and he was safe. We’re down eight runs. It was the wrong play then too, and he was safe. Today it’s the wrong play.”

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Dodgers had not hit into two triple plays in the same season since 1955.

Puig has generally done well learning from his rookie mistakes, and the Dodgers have generally hit well in the clutch. Their 409 RBIs with runners in scoring position rank first in the National League, including an NL-best 170 with two outs.

But Correia hasn’t generally pitched well this season. Ramirez hasn’t fielded well at shortstop, rust or no rust. These problems could linger into the postseason.

Before the trade, Correia said he was playing for a team that tended to look ahead “a few starts, a week.” With the Dodgers, Correia isn’t auditioning for a possible postseason roster spot. The focus, he said, is on the next game.

“That’s the farthest thing from our mind,” he said. “The last thing we need to be doing is penciling ourselves into the playoffs.”